We conducted a survey to identify topics and skills in orthopaedics that
should be included in a curriculum for the education of general
practitioners. Forty-one program chairpersons responded to a questionnaire
that asked respondents to rate the importance of each of eighty topics or
skills related to orthopaedic surgery. The questionnaires were analyzed
with use of descriptive statistics. The stability of the results was
assessed with a follow-up questionnaire five months after the first survey
had been completed, and the results were analyzed with a correlation
coefficient of the mean ratings of importance and percentage agreement on
individual items. The results produced a rank-order listing of important
topics and skills in orthopaedics for the general practitioner. The topics
and skills that were rated highly by program chairpersons corresponded to
the types of musculoskeletal problems most commonly seen by family
practitioners. This survey provides concurrent validity for the rank-order
lists and confirms the need to include these items in a core curriculum for
general practitioners.